Sports

On Middleton’s first offensive play from scrimmage in 2016, running back Dion Huff darted through a huge hole for a 25-yard gain. On the Cardinals’ next play, fellow running back James Pabst ran for another 13.

It was that kind of night for the Cardinals’ junior running backs as each took turns breaking big runs to lead Middleton’s football team to a resounding 31-3 season-opening victory over Madison Memorial in a Big Eight Conference game at Mansfield Stadium Friday night.

Of course it didn’t hurt to run behind an offensive line anchored by 6-foot-3, 320-pound right guard Kayden Lyles.

“Thanks to the O-line,” Huff said. “They just did their job and we got it done.”

Joining Lyles, a University of Wisconsin recruit, on the Cardinals sizable offensive line were left tackle Jarrett Horst (6-4, 270), left guard Daydrian Spears (5-10, 232), center Justin Sarbacker (5-9, 228) and right tackle Seth Craker (6-4, 243).

Middleton’s football program has largely been a pillar of excellence — both on and off the field — under Tim Simon for the past 12 years.

For the first time this offseason, though, Simon put together a handbook for his players that includes a mission statement, football specific goals and an overall philosophy.

There were six football goals, and most years, Middleton has aced the first five. They include competing for a Big Eight championship and ranking among the premier football programs in Wisconsin.
It’s the sixth and final goal that has given Simon and the Cardinals fits.

That reads: “Compete year in and year out to win the state championship.”

“We have a goal every year of winning a gold ball and playing in Camp Randall,” Simon said. “But we need to be more consistent in the playoffs than we have been.”

The Cardinals have done several great things under Simon.

Speed kills.

It doesn’t hurt to have some size, too.

Middleton’s offense seems to have both this fall, which could make the Cardinals extremely dangerous on that side of the ball.

Middleton has a bevy of skill players that run extremely well. Combine that with an offensive line that will average 6-foot-1 and 258 pounds per man and the Cardinals could have an offense that gives their foes fits.

“We’re going to have a lot of team speed,” said Middleton coach Tim Simon, whose team opens the season at Madison Memorial Friday. “Then we should have some pretty good size up front, too. We’re hoping that’s a nice combination.”

After waiting his turn the last two seasons, senior C.J. Fermanich will take over at quarterback. Fermanich is a sensational athlete who was a first-team all-Big Eight Conference return man and an honorable-mention all-conference selection at cornerback in 2015.

Tom Cabalka loves linebackers.

They are often tackling machines that can also cover, blitz, fill holes and lead a football team.

Give Cabalka three gifted linebackers and Middleton’s longtime defensive coordinator will usually produce a first-rate unit.

The 2016 season could be the latest example of that.

Cabalka has a trio of linebackers that could rank among the better groups he’s had at Middleton. And as the Cardinals prepare for their 2016 opener at Madison Memorial Friday, Cabalka is extremely optimistic about his defense — and his linebackers.

“I think this is really going to be a good group,” the normally understated Cabalka said of his linebackers. “We should be able to do a lot of things with these guys.”

Middleton’s defense, always a strength under Cabalka, should be extremely stout again in 2016. But the linebacking group has the ability to become both playmakers and difference-makers.

One year ago, Middleton and Hartland Arrowhead battled until the final putt of the season before the Cardinals edged the Warhawks for the state championship.

Early indications are 2016 could feature more of the same dramatics.

At the season-opening, 21-team WPGA/Madison Edgewood Invite held last Friday at Yahara Hills, Arrowhead shot a 312 and edged Middleton by one shot for the title.

Kettle Moraine was a distant third at 323, while Franklin (324) and Milton (326) rounded out the top five.

Last season, the Cardinals shot 321 at this same event, then won the state title two months later. So everyone on Middleton’s side was excited by the sensational start to the new year.

“I am so proud of the girls,” Middleton coach Becky Halverson said. “This is going to be another exciting season.”

Middleton’s football team camp was in full swing late last month when the new kid in town made his presence immediately felt.

Highly acclaimed offensive linemen Kayden Lyles, who transferred to MHS this summer and will play his senior season with the Cardinals, watched as a teammate failed to finish a drill. Lyles, a 6-foot-4, 320-pound mountain of man, didn’t like what he saw and pulled out his own personal sheriff’s badge.

“He just told the kid, ‘Drop and give me five,’ ” Middleton offensive coordinator Jason Pertzborn said of Lyles. “He’s used to winning and doing things a certain way.

“It’s hard to get a kid who’s been in our program for four years to do that kind of stuff. But Kayden’s already grabbed a leadership role and he showed it right there.”

Now, the Cardinals can’t wait to see what Lyles shows on the field.

It was a euphoric, memorable, glorious two days that will be burned in their brains for the rest of time.

Middleton’s girls golf team, which had knocked on the door of a state title in 2013 and ’14, broke it down last season. The Cardinals rallied on the final day and nipped Hartland Arrowhead for the second WIAA Division 1 state championship in school history.

Now, despite the loss of state Player of the Year Loren Skibba, Middleton enters 2016 among the favorites to repeat as state champions.

The Cardinals bring back four of their top five golfers and appear to have the foundation to make another run at a gold ball. Middleton begins its season Friday at the Madison Edgewood Invite at Yahara Hills.

Sometimes the first option is the best one.

That’s certainly how Storm Murphy felt.

Murphy, a senior-to-be at Middleton High School, gave a verbal commitment on Wednesday to play basketball at Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C. Murphy attracted interest from several other schools, but Wofford — the first school to offer Murphy a scholarship — made the most sense for Middleton’s standout point guard.

“Wofford was my first Division 1 offer,” Murphy said Thursday afternoon. “They were prioritizing me in their list of recruits, and I just felt very comfortable with everything about the school.”

Murphy will become the third player under 10^th-year coach Kevin Bavery to play Division 1 basketball. The others were Will Hudson (Oakland) and Derek Rongstad (UW-Milwaukee).

It was another sensational year for the sports teams at Middleton High School, where the Cardinals remarkably seem to raise the bar every year.

Of course, some achievements rank as the best of the best. Here’s one person’s opinion of that list:

Girls team of the year: Golf

Loren Skibba had just made the biggest one foot putt of her young life.

And as Middleton’s standout senior golfer was trying to exit the 18^th green at University Ridge last October, she was met by a mob of giddy Cardinals.

“They were crying, then I started crying,” Skibba said. “It was incredible.”

Incredible is the perfect word for what transpired at the WIAA Division 1 girls state golf tournament.

Middleton and Hartland Arrowhead engaged in an epic battle for the state championship. But for most of the final round, the Warhawks kept the Cardinals at arms length.

Emmet Herb has joked he’s 130 pounds — “dripping wet.”

But one of the smallest golfers in the state was also the best in 2016.

On Tuesday, the Golf Coaches Association of Wisconsin named Herb the boys state Player of the Year. Herb, who won the WIAA Division 1 individual state title earlier this month, was also named first-team all-state.

In addition, Middleton senior Joey Levin was named second-team all-state, while senior Brady Thomas was named honorable-mention all-state.

“That was pretty neat to hear,” Middleton coach Tom Cabalka said. “I was hoping he would be first team and I was fairly confident in that. But this was a great surprise. He was our little big man.”

Herb shot a remarkable 6-under-par at the state tournament and won that event by seven strokes. Herb’s 138 total was the third lowest in any division since the state tournament moved to University Ridge Golf Course in 1994.